Our Story
Hello there! My name is Marianna and I’m the founder of the Melanin Fleece Tights. How Melanin Fleece Tights came to be is the quintessential story of necessity birthing invention. In the fall of 2022, I learned about the viral translucent fleece-lined tights and was looking forward to buying a pair. To my surprise no one was offering these revolutionary tights in darker skin tones. Even in this age of celebrating diversity and inclusivity in various industries, it is still challenging for women of color to find products that match our skin tones. I decided to dig deeper. In my research, I discovered not only were the colors extremely limited, the sizes were also limited with only two one-size fits all that only went up to what would generally be considered a Medium/Large in the US! I recognized the opportunity that existed and despite having limited funds I wanted to create a brand where women of ALL shades and sizes would be included. A brand that offered any individual a pair that was right for them! I took it upon myself to fill the gaps in the market by going above and beyond by creating Melanin Fleece Tights.
After months of hard work Melanin Fleece Tights soft launched in January 2023, starting with a limited supply in the standard sizes to test the market with our factory-dyed colors. We received great reviews and feedback which we used to further perfect our shades and to offer more sizes. After much trial and error (literally 40+ samples!) and working with multiple manufacturers, we perfected our colors into three shades and four sizes for our official launch in September 2023. Our shades Chocolate, Caramel and Honey offer a great range for all melanated women whether dark brown, medium brown or light brown/olive toned. Our new range of sizes fit S-3XL including plus sizes. The first plus sizes in the fleece-lined space!
In under one year since our official launch, Melanin Fleece Tights has received overwhelmingly positive reviews and support on and offline! We have been featured in Cosmopolitan, BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Fox5DC tv station and more for being a pioneer in this niche! The blessing of popularity and publicity has brought its own challenges in the form of several copycats claiming to have created our colors (including the exact shades, names and sizes we worked so hard to hone on). While it is disheartening to have business taken away from us, it has also affirmed that we have a winning product, that Melanin Fleece Tights is a formidable competitor in the market. And so, we keep moving forward to grow our brand and fulfill our mission!
In February 2024, we released Tall lengths of our original colors and sizes in response to feedback that bemoaned the lack of longer lengths in the industry. And in doing so, we achieved the distinction yet again of being the first in the industry to be height inclusive. For fall 2024, we released our fourth shade, Milkshake along with a stirrup leggings design variation in all our shades!
I believe beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, colors and heights, and I hope with every purchase, each customer feels seen, heard and celebrated. Melanin Fleece Tights strives to continue to serve our community as best as we can as we grow to include all skin tones and sizes! Stay tuned to our latest movement by subscribing to our mailing list and follow us on social media!
Thank you! 🙏🏾❤️
Marianna
Founder
We hope you love our tights as much as we do! Tag us on our social networks @MelaninFleeceTights. We welcome all reviews and please feel free to reach out to us at hello@melaninfleecetights.com with any questions or feedback!